


stay with me for a while

by cao_nin



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, Pining, Post Timeskip, Unrequited Lust, pre timeskip, to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:01:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cao_nin/pseuds/cao_nin
Summary: just armin pining and watching eren play video games while the sun setsunedited fluff. that’s it. + happy birthday armin!
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Eren Yeager
Comments: 4
Kudos: 80





	stay with me for a while

**Author's Note:**

> made this during my advisory block so it sucks but i wanted to write something for armin’s birthday :)

_he’s certainly pretty_. that’s what armin concludes to, one day when they’re sitting on the floor in his room, backs against the bed and messy t-shirts and loose boxers clung to their sides. eren’s got his video game controller latched into his hands, fingers gnawing and stabbing buttons as the character on the screen continues to shoot at the other players. mikasa is at her judo class, and his grandpa is doing yard work or whatever old men do when they’re at their peaks in life. so, they’re left alone. alone, together in armin’s childhood bedroom - or just his normal bedroom in general, with their shoes off and the tv screen shining a ray of blue light among the shadowy room. it leaves a small unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach - he wonders if it’s how people in books describe as “ _butterflies.”_

it’s not a certainly rare occasion, but it’s a moment like no other - to see eren all lazily prettied up, like so. his hair reeks of bed head and his eyes are locked onto the screen, mumbling and cursing under his breath each time he loses a life. _pretty_. for a second, armin lets his eyes wander and admire the long plains of athletic tan legs, and how the loose shirt drops just enough to see deep collar bones. he’s disgusted with himself; _eren is a boy._

“hey, how long has it been your turn?” armin’s hands twitch at his own controller, snapping his eyes away. “can you hurry up and die already? i wanna play too, you  know.” he doesn’t sound like himself, he sounds so...

cocky.

“shut up.” eren breathes, eyes still glued to  the screen. “not my fault you lasted two minutes.” the words bring a smirk to his lips. for a moment, armin wanted to taste them. bite them. he wanted to drag his mouth from every nook and cranny eren had to offer. but he doesn’t.  because eren isn’t like that , and he definitely doesn’t have a thing for his painfully closeted best friend. definitely does not.

“pervert.” armin retorts, jabbing at his side with a socked foot. he swears he can see eren glance at him from the corner of his eye and his lips slightly quirking upwards into a faint smile - probably out of satisfaction.“eren.” he whined, pressing more into the other boy’s rib cage. “this is boring.” he groans this time. 

“why don’t you just watch then.” 

“ you want me to watch you play a video game? ” armin cocks his head in disbelief. nodding, eren twists and turns a little while fighting off another opponent. he’s concentrated; a little too concentrated, and it’s funny watching him shudder and groan a bit when he dies for the eighth time that afternoon. armin’s mind wanders at the thought.

the blond finds he enjoys himself best when he pushes eren’s buttons. “‘bet you do find those video game characters hot.” he muses, gesturing to all the sweaty muscly men shooting at their targets. eren only acknowledges it with a small ‘tsk’, but initially he pays no mind. 

“if you’re talking about nevaeh,” he pauses, finding cover in a nearby bunker. “shes pretty hot.” oh right. nevaeh, the tannedgoddess ridden with white curls and long lashes. armin didn’t find her attractive as all the other hormonal boys his age did, but he respected the opinion. 

“uh huh.” he didn’t know how to quite respond to that.

“uh huh.” eren muttered in response. armin continues to stare, shamelessly.  when he’s concentrated, he’s got this funny face , armin thinks. the brunette chews on his lips, eyes wide and body twitching at every control he plucks. armin figures he knows why mikasa is always staring at him - they both can’t get enough of his face. 

“you’re pretty good at that.” armin finds himself humming, watching subtlety as eren gets cornered by a group of opponents and - well - dies. he giggles a little when eren lets out a loud “fuck you and this game” and throws his head back in anger. armin pretends he isn’t a little tiny itty bit turned on by it. “how long did you last? like, what, two minutes?” the blond sneers, attempting to avoid the other boy kicking at his side with bare legs. 

“now  you sound like a perv.” eren keeps a growl on his face, but deep down armin knows he’s trying not to smile. “a really big perv.”  well, they are in their underwear.

“i hope you don’t mean that, eren.” armin let’s out a fake pout, but it’s enough to get eren distracted, slipping up like always. “i was just asking a question.” he catches eren’s bare foot with his hands, in a failed attempt to kick his stomach. 

the late afternoon light shines in between 

blinds, the sun almost going down. the fish tank in the side of the room is making a loud sound, and the video game is just booming with music and gun shots - but under all the commotion, armin just feels the need to kiss eren. maybe he’ll give him a peck. or mash his lips together with the other’s. maybe he’ll even do that one technique he’s seen hannah and franz do, where they slobber all over each other with their tongues; he winces at the mere thought.

although, he knows he can’t try any of those bizarre techniques since the door is wide open and his grandfather could come in at any second and catch them between each other’s shorts - he still likes to imagine them doing so. 

“hey.” he snaps back to reality, eren’s rough voice awaking him from his thoughts. the blond blinks, once, twice, until he’s dropping eren’s foot and hiding his face in his hair, embarrassed from his rather lewd thoughts.

eren’s always begging for him to cut it, saying stuff like ‘you don’t need to follow gender stereotypes but you’ve had that bob for too long’ or ‘jean always hits on you because he says you remind him of a girl.’ 

and he knows it’s true, but other in moments when they’re alone, he finds peace with himself as eren braids it between his long and swift fingers, cold skin brushing armin’s flushed shoulders. part of him lusts for that touch again. he lusts for the old eren who had no problem touching him, caressing him. he assumed that all was bound to change as they grew up, but it never shook him that eren no longer felt comfortable touching armin like that.

“sorry.” he avoids the brunette’s gaze, snatching his controller back into his hands and beginning a new game. except, eren doesn’t move his leg, letting it rest on armin’s. the blond stills a bit, a little shocked - but it’s nothing eren won’t notice. the brunette grabs his own controller, tan legs still tangled with pale ones. 

a breeze from the open window flushes in, and for a second, everything stops. he can barely hear the light buzz of the fish tank in the corner, and the blinds that should be blowing with the wind, stay put as if they were glued down. eren’s legs are resting on his, both clad in boxers, bandaids, and an  anklet eren got in cuba - which he won’t ever take off for some sacred reason.

he’s so happy, armin is, that he feels like screaming. probably something about how he’s perfectly fine with being in love with his best friend, even if it’s unrequited. _though_ , he thinks, _it would probably freak eren out a bit._

the sun is going down, and it results in rich rays of orange light splays off of eren’s even richer skin, and armin feels his breath stop in his throat and his eyes water. 

“hey, eren.” he says his name like honey, slow and sweet. eren cocks an eyebrow, his concentration mostly shifted to the video game. armin does the same, attempting to battle off the other opponents who are mostly going for eren. “i don’t know how long we’ll be here for, but,” he drifts a little away, distraction from the clutter of thoughts he had in his head.  what is he saying? is he doing this right now? should he ruin their friendship, really? right before graduation and everything? the pause of silence is too long, but its comfortable enough between the two. armin looks at how close they are; too close. they’ve got their limbs tangled together and heads so close he can feel eren’s short and quick breaths. shit. he could kiss him right here, save all the confession for later and get what he’s been wanting for ages, over with.

but he doesn’t - like always. he keeps his eyes peeled to the screen, and his hands on the controller. he represses the need to reach over and kiss eren. because, he shouldn’t feel the need to do so anyways. 

“well, what were you gonna say?” eren said it rather bluntly.

“huh?” armin tried his usual, “i don’t know what you’re talking about” face, but eren didn’t buy it.

“you said ‘hey, eren,’ a second ago, what were you saying?” he’s dropping his own control now, ending the game. the screen goes black, and now it’s just them and the sunset. the more alone he feels with eren, the more fear that sparks beneath him.

“what was that for? i wasn’t done, you know.” armin tried redirecting the conversation, placing his own control down on the carpet softly, almost a little so soft for the taller to not notice.

eren gave him a look, and then shuffled closer to him, knees brushing each other. armin observed eren’s that were ridden with scars and bruises - probably from all the times he’d get into fights or fallen off the swing set in an attempt to do a flip. armin held back from giggling a little at the thought. the blond’s eyes wavered from eren’s legs to his own; he had always been skinny, so it was obvious his were slightly thinner compared to the lean muscle on eren’s calves. armin remembered a time where he had been jealous of that. it was always apparent that both of his friends, if not all - were much stronger than him, besides connie of course. now, looking at his dusted pink knees, dainty with soft skin, he can’t help but feel grateful. 

“arminnnnnnn.” eren tried. “armin, armin, armin.” he attempted again. 

“well i-“ he pauses.  _christ- christ _, this wasn’t a good time. he had wanted eren to disown him at least by the end of the year - where they could finally graduate and go their ways separate. this was definitely a change of plans-  someone stop him, stop him destroying the friendship he had built and worked so hard for - with his boy, with eren . his palms are sweaty, though he doesn’t quite know if it’s the heat he’s radiating judging by his rosy cheeks, or whether they need to the turn the AC up and the room itself is getting warmer. 

moving his eyes from off the ground, armin gives eren a soft smile. a warm one. it’s pure, and out of the blue, and even though he’s certain he has no idea what armins on about, eren still returns it, quirking his lips in that way the blond had always gone giddy at. 

“what’s got you so happy all of a sudden?” and when the words leave his mouth, armin feels the pit in his stomach flutter, like butterflies.  butterflies . all dancing around in his stomach, trying to find a way out.  maybe his throat? his attention was snapped back to eren, who still gave him a small dazed smile, as if he looked bored simply watching armin go about in his own head. 

“you, eren.” armin says as soft as it could possibly get. he watches as the other boy’s face heats up, and watched again as eren avoids his eyes like he did before and flush red . he liked making eren go flush with reddened cheeks and stuttering mumbles. he liked giving eren sheepish looks and subtle glances.

it takes a moment before eren can finally wipe the flush off of his cheeks, still pink.

“ what are you going on about? did you take something before i got here or-“ and he doesn’t finish his witty retort like he always does, because now armin is crawling on his pink dusted knees, and grabbing eren down for a hug. it’s too sudden,  he would have prepared for this more if he had known it was going to happen , but nonetheless he feels comfort in the thin arms engulfing him into the other, feeling a cold hand rub soothing circles at the back of his neck. it takes him, eren, a moment out of shock before he’s hugging back, wrapping his arms around armin’s waist, burying his head in the crook of the blond’s neck. 

and beneath the shadows of the blinds, and the sunset practically searing in the sky - a bright pink-ish orange, they hold each other for what feels like decades. they spoke no words; it felt like their movements and lingers were already enough to communicate with. 

armin shivers each time a little colder as eren breathes on his neck, cheek pressing to his collarbone. the fish tank is as noisy as ever, buzzing contrasting with the breeze ghosting over into his bedroom with the window wide open. right. the window. the window had been open, for almost everyone to see. armin chuckled to himself - how foolish he had been to leave it open. except, he, armin, has no worries. he’s always been a worried person, more or less by the time he grew up. he feels nothing matters more than being in eren’s grasp. 

it takes an extra push of eren’s weight to knock armin onto his back, leaving him a calm mess resting on the carpeted floor with eren sprawled out over him, head securely trapped between his shoulder. the shorter of the two is so relaxed with eren’s unsteady weight on top of his own, that he feels like he could doze off into oblivion. though he wouldn’t want to risk wasting the last few moments of affection he had with his friend. 

the last few moments of affection he had with eren. eren.  eren , armin thought to himself while placing a frail hand onto the other’s back,  eren was all that mattered.

“stay with me for a while, for as long as when i’m like this.” 


End file.
